Theos-Talk Archives (October 1997 Message tl00086)

>Hardly a fault or a virtue; I was subtly [failed] attempting to bring
>attention the the fact that the earlier Theosophists, who were
>relatively few per head of population, were mostly of the class who
>could *afford* to play croquet - very much an "upper-crust" pusuit in
>those days, not to mention the time involved. It was these people (such
>as the famous Miss Dodge) who poured funds into the TS, fed and clothed
>Krishnamurti, bought large amounts of real estate for the Society, etc.
>"Humanity" in the shape of the great mass of working people hardly got a
>look in.
>
>Oh well.
>
>Alan

Alan, you are touching on a sensitive and tricky subject here as I
am sure you are aware of Maslow's famous Hierarchy of Needs. Although
considered a theory, it does seem to work well with society. If true,
then only the "upper-crust" will ever pursue theosophy because
only the upper classes (who have their lower needs already met) will
ever have time.  Maslow did a lot of research and discovered that
Peak Experiences and Self-Actualization pursuits such as Theosophy
will only occur to those in the highest level of his hierarchy of needs
which is only a few percent of the population. This brings up the 
infamous question of just how do we go about bringing the "masses" 
into the theosophical fold?  According to modern psychology, we never 
will.

Jerry S.